THERE was an excellent starting field of 14 for the Treo Eile thoroughbred class at the first Stepping Stones to Success league qualifier on Wednesday at Wexford Equestrian where the winner was Ballydrummond who is owned by a trio of rider Gerald Bloomer, J.P. King and Pat Turley.

The combination had qualified for the finals of the Horse Sport Ireland affiliate combined training series and, while they didn’t travel to CoilÓg last month, the experience of competing at Barnadown and, at some small local shows, wasn’t lost on the gelding who is by the Whytemount Stud-based Nayef stallion Valirann. He is out of a hurdle and chase winner by Classic Cliche.

Ballydrummond, who completed on his Mark Ruddock-awarded dressage score of 25.2 penalties, was previously trained by Andrew McNamara for whom he pulled up in a point-to-point maiden at Stradbally in December 2020 after which he finished 11th of 13 in a maiden hurdle at Fairyhouse the following month. The plug was then pulled on his racing career. He will be sent eventing once he has gotten out of ‘race mode’.

Jason Furlong finished second on Chris Ryan’s Sans Frontieres gelding Tobias (29.2), an unraced five-year-old who has winning and placed form in arena eventing competitions to his credit. The owner is quite excited about this bay gelding who is out of a Shernazar mare.

Heidi Brabazon finished third with her own Ahaziah, a five-year-old Alhebayeb gelding who ran 13 times between the flat and over hurdles without being placed for Sneezy Foster.

This competition is confined to raced or unraced thoroughbreds who are just setting out on their second careers, not established performance horses, and they don’t fit the bill more aptly than Back It Up. The Jenny Walsh-owned and ridden Mahler gelding, who had a fence down on Wednesday to place 10th, finished a distant fourth when making his pointing debut in a four-year-old maiden at Belclare as recently as March 20th.

Paddy Jo does the business

With one season’s eventing experience behind him, the Connemara gelding Paddy Jo was eligible for the Equijump pony producers’ class and, although off the pace after dressage on 52.4 marks, his jumping score saw him narrowly top the final leaderboard on 195.9 in the hands of owner Jackie Barden’s daughter Hazel.

The six-year-old Martan Phaidin Mhoir gelding, who was bred by Declan Connick out of Ballyvary Mist (by Streamstown Mickey), competed seven times under Eventing Ireland rules last season, winning an EI100 for five and six-year-old ponies at Tattersalls last August. Barden and Paddy Jo moved up to Junior company last Saturday at Tyrella. The dun also has nine Show Jumping Ireland points.

Another dun, Mary Kehoe’s five-year-old mare Diamant des Mures (193.5), who has no recorded pedigree, finished second under Molly Flanagan while similarly narrowly beaten into third was Alex Connors and Jane Hancock’s Irish Sport Pony Blennerville Rua (193.4) who warmed up for this challenge when winning at the Kildare hunter trials in Punchestown.

Senior rider Amanda Goldsbury achieved the highest dressage score (64.7) on Hale Athena but this Mr Hale Bob mare, who won an EI90 class at Knockany last September, failed to impress in the jumping phases and slipped to seventh (163.2).

The Stepping Stones to Success league continues at Wexford Equestrian next Wednesday, April 6th.